Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Obama and Law and Order

If the president is now trying to assert that individual acts of violence, whether an arguably unjustified shooting by a police officer or a mass shooting by a disturbed individual, should not cause us to jump to conclusions about that act representing the intentions of an entire group, then it is he, as much as anyone who has encouraged Americans to think in this manner. Having helped to encourage that fundamental misreading of American society as irremediably racist despite the fact that we twice elected an African-American to the presidency, it is a little too little and far too late for him to be offering wiser counsel.

"Anyone who doubts the extent to which Obama’s presidency has been marked by pronounced distaste for police officers — especially white ones — need only look to the litany of ideologically motivated, anti-police statements the president has made since he assumed office." [Below and throughout, bold highlighting of names added to original text.]

When Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates [Cambridge MA] was arrested on July 16, 2009, outside his home after police received reports of an individual trying to force entry into the house, Obama said the arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, “acted stupidly.” How his actions were stupid, Obama did not say. Gates, who had lost his keys, was literally breaking into his own home, and Officer Crowley responded to the call. Obama may believe Crowley should have invited Gates out for a round of beers (as Obama did in the infamous “beer summit”) and politely ask him what he was doing, but it’s unlikely most homeowners would want cops to respond to a reported break-in in such a manner.

After black teenager Trayvon Martin [Sanford FL] was shot by the overzealous, “White-Hispanic” George Zimmerman — because in Obama’s America Hispanics magically become white people if they shoot a black person — Obama said that, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Of course, Obama declined to say if his son would have played hooky and assaulted a community watch volunteer, bashing his head repeatedly into the pavement.

When Michael Brown [Ferguson MO] was shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson while in the process of assaulting Wilson and trying to take his gun, Obama did not call for calm or tell people to wait until the full facts of the case were known. Instead, he chose to believe the media narrative that Michael Brown was shot with his hands up — based on one unreliable witness, Brown's friend — and even sent administration officials to his funeral. Brown's death "stains the heart of black children," Obama proclaimed.

Later, when Freddie Grey [Baltimore MD] was killed in the custody of black police officers who report to a black police chief in a city governed by a black mayor, Obama once again blamed racism against blacks. "This is not new, and we shouldn't pretend that it's new," he said. "There are problems and challenges when it comes to how policing and our laws are applied in certain communities and we have to pay attention to it.”

is the lawful prosecution of one’s duties as a police officer a sign of “racial prejudice that runs rampant throughout the force[?]” Someone called 911 on Alton Sterling because he had shown his gun to them and threatened them. He had been in an altercation with police in 2009, in which his gun fell out of his waistband. He was a well-known multiple felon who had committed numerous acts of violence against his community and his family.

There were plenty of reasons for the police to be extremely cautious with him. Not to mention the fact that he continued to struggle after the cops realized he had a gun and warned him to stop.

St. Paul MN

“Would this had happened if those passengers were white? I don’t think it would’ve,” [Minnesota Gov. Mark] Dayton said. “So I’m forced to confront, and I think all of us in Minnesota are forced to confront, [that] this kind of racism exists.”

President Obama was again spouting false claims about racism by the police. He sees racism whenever there is any disparity in outcomes, no matter what the cause. Obama and others inflame passions, but take no responsibility, and instead use events to push for more gun control. Yet, shouting racism can endanger the lives of police officers. The Dallas police chief tells us one of the shooters “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”

After the Trayvon Martin case, there were numerous cases around the country of blacks attacking whites and invoking Martin’s name. Let’s not forget that NYPD cops Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were executed by a black man who was angry about the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

Obama and his administration spoke out repeatedly on the Martin and Brown cases. They repeatedly claimed racism was involved, but in fact there’s no evidence of that in either case.

Obama is also wrong. . . to infer racism from higher arrest rates or prison-sentence lengths. “African Americans are arrested at twice the rate of whites,” he said. What he failed to note is that blacks commit murder at almost six times the rate whites do.

“African-American and Hispanic population, who make up only 30% of the general population, make up more than half of the incarcerated population,” he added. But Obama ignores the facts put out by his own Department of Justice. The FBI claims that gangs commit 80% of crimes in the US, and the National Gang Center estimates that 82% of gang members are black or Hispanic.

Inflammatory, false claims about police racism not only endanger the lives of police officers, they can also lead to higher crime rates — especially in heavily black areas. If Obama really cares about poor blacks, he should be more careful getting his facts right.

Comment: Politics explains why Obama defends “Black Lives Matter” anti-police charges in the face of facts. Democrats depend upon 1) a high percentage of blacks voting for their candidates, and 2) blacks energized enough by hatred of white males to turn out to vote. For Democrats, adding urgency to this “Blame the Man” strategy is the administration’s failure over 8 years to deliver jobs to non-college graduate minority males.

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About Me

Former Hawaii State House Republican Leader, State and City economic development executive, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer stationed in East Asia and Washington D.C. Holds Ph.D. in Public Affairs (Princeton). This blog has recorded over 75,000 views.